Method of minimizing wellbore instability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9719332-B2
Application number	US-201213983010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2012
Priority date	Jan 31, 2011
Publication date	Aug 1, 2017
Grant date	Aug 1, 2017

Abstract

A process for reducing wellbore instability includes inputting pre-drilling assessment information into an hydraulics analysis and wellbore stability application, inputting a well plan into the hydraulics and wellbore analysis application, inputting a parameter measured at the wellsite into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application, inputting an observation made at the wellsite into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application, integrating the pre-drilling assessment information, the measured parameter, and the observation into the wellbore strengthening analysis application, and adjusting a drilling fluid parameter in response to the integrated pre-drilling assessment information, the measured parameter, and the observation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for reducing wellbore instability comprising:
inputting pre-drilling assessment information into a hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application to create a well plan;
inputting a parameter measured at the wellsite as a wellbore is drilled into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application;
inputting an observation made at the wellsite as the wellbore is drilled into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application;
integrating the well plan, the measured parameter, and the observation into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application continually;
visually displaying a wellbore stability report comprising results of the integrated well plan, the measured parameter, and the observation; and
adjusting operating window, drilling fluid, or drilling conditions at the wellsite as drilling progresses based on the wellbore stability report.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-drilling assessment information includes at least one input selected from data consisting of: client data, third party data, offset well data, drill bit data and planning simulations.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the parameter measured at the wellsite includes at least one selected from the group consisting of: downhole equivalent static density, equivalent circulating density, pump pressures, flow rates, rheological properties, temperature profiles, and tripping rate.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the observation made at the wellsite includes at least one selected from the group consisting of: return cuttings volume, return cuttings shape, and a return drilling fluid characteristic.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a state of wellbore integrity based current operating conditions.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inputting wellbore stability related events into the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application; and
calibrating the hydraulics and wellbore stability analysis application based on the wellbore stability related events.

7. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps adapted for integrating geomechanics and drilling fluids engineering, said method steps comprising:
a wellbore stability engine;
an input processor supplying wellsite data measured at the wellsite during drilling to a wellbore stability engine by an input processor;
wherein the input processor also supplying a pre-drilling plan to the wellbore stability engine;
wherein supplying third party data are provided to the wellbore stability engine; and
generating a visual report generated by the wellbore stability engine;
wherein the visual report includes wellbore stability information resulting from third party data, the pre-drilling plan, and the data measured at the wellsite;
wherein operating window, drilling fluid, or drilling conditions at the wellsite are adjusted based on the visual report as drilling progresses.

8. The non-transitory program storage device of claim 7 , wherein data measured at the wellsite includes at least one parameter selected from the group consisting of: downhole equivalent static density, equivalent circulating density, pump pressure, flow rate, drilling fluid rheology, temperature, and tripping rate.

9. A method for generating wellbore stability reports comprising:
inputting an initial parameter into a wellbore stability engine;
supplying a well plan from the wellbore stability engine based on the initial parameter;
inputting a wellsite parameter comprising drilling fluid data measured at the wellsite during drilling continually into an input processor;
inputting the well plan into the input processor;
supplying the wellsite parameter and well plan from the input processor to the wellbore stability engine;
generating a visualized wellbore stability report from the wellbore stability engine based on the wellsite parameter and well plan from the input processor; and
adjusting operating window, drilling fluid, or drilling conditions at the wellsite as drilling progresses based on the visualized wellbore stability report.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said report is generated daily.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said report is generated on demand.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the initial parameter includes at least one input selected from data consisting of: client data, third party data, offset well data, drill bit data and planning simulations.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the wellsite parameter includes at least one selected from the group consisting of: downhole equivalent static density, equivalent circulating density, pump pressures, flow rates, rheological properties, temperature profiles, and tripping rate.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: positioning an equivalent static density and equivalent circulating density profile within the adjusted operating window.

15. A method for reducing wellbore instability, comprising:
inputting geomechanical well plan data into a wellbore stability engine, the geomechanical well plan data comprising data from a wellsite, data from an offset well, and/or planning simulations to create a wellplan;
inputting drilling fluid data and observations taken from a well being drilled into the wellbore stability engine;
generating a wellbore stability report from the wellbore stability engine based on the wellplan and drilling fluid data and observations; and
adjusting the operating window, drilling fluid, or drilling conditions at the wellsite as drilling progresses based on the wellbore stability report.

16. The method of claim 5 , wherein the wellbore stability report comprises a visualization comprising wellbore data, fluid data, and formation data.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the visualization further comprises wellbore instability events.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the wellbore data comprises at least one data selected from the group consisting of depth, well geometry, inclination, wherein the fluid data comprises at least one data selected from the group consisting of mud weight, equivalent circulating density, and maximum stable mud weight, and wherein the formation data comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of downhole stresses and pressure profile.

Assignees

• Zamora Mario
• Guo Quanxin
• Roy Sanjit
• M-I L L C

Inventors

• Zamora Mario
• Guo Quanxin
• Roy Sanjit

Classifications

• E21B43/00 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells (applicable only to water E03B) · CPC title

• E21B44/00 Primary

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title